“We need every crew member to write a report on their observations of Auraylia and how the crew responded to having a slave on board? Have them to upload the information to the database for my eyes only. I want to see if they shed some light on her behaviour. Also, tell them it's to study the effectiveness of buying slaves as recruits for manual labour.”
“All right, that should help. We might even find ourselves able to get some of the not so savoury crew re-assigned. Shall we get on it now?” Doug got up, more eager to help than Dylan had expected.
“Yes, tell them I'd like the report as soon as possible.”
With nods and encouraging smiles they all hurried out to make his request happen. His officers appeared as sympathetic to her as he felt.
“Oh, before I go,” Beth said with her head around the door. “Are we doing a crew Christmas dinner tomorrow, or just the officers?”
“I'll think about it and let you know. I'd forgotten it was Christmas Eve.”
She grinned and shut the door behind her, leaving him alone with his emotions.
Dylan picked up his datapad to look over the ship reports and check on the repair bots' progress but every few minutes he found himself checking his inbox to look for messages from the crew. After an hour he gave up even pretending to work on other concerns and sat refreshing the screen at regular intervals.
As soon as the first account arrived he opened it and started reading. It wasn't as detailed as he'd hoped, but mentioned the talk of her being a slave causing arguments amongst some crew. Most of the crew thought she was still a slave, but owned by the Fleet, although a couple of engineers argued that she must have been set free. The woman who'd written it didn't appear to have interacted with Auraylia at all, but there were another two messages waiting for him as soon as he'd finished reading.
Dylan spent the next five hours reading crew logs of Auraylia and the crew's reaction to her. By the time he was half way through the reports he had four names of people who'd taken extra interest in her in ways that seemed unhealthy. Thomas, the officer in charge of Crime and Punishment and watching anyone in the brig, was mentioned as having made suggestive comments to her, which explained Auraylia's requests for someone else to have the key to her cell. The lower ranked of the two Bens aboard, was reported to have invited her into his bunk and frequently put his arm around her waist or shoulders. One report from another female suggested Auraylia had asked for the attention but most mentioned her looks of discomfort.
By the time he'd gone through every report he knew she must have been telling the truth and his discoveries sickened him. Bringing her aboard had seemed like a great way to help her, but his trust of his entire crew had put her in danger. He felt like a fool.
At the least, he could let her know she wasn't going to be dismissed with a criminal record. The news would prevent her worrying quite so much and give him the impetus to sort out the rest.
When he entered the brig, the Thorian put his finger to his lips and glanced at Auraylia. The room was darker than normal but he could see the shape of her body, half-sitting and half-leaning against the back wall. It didn't look like a comfortable position to sleep in but she'd been awake so long he wasn't surprised the tiredness had snuck up on her.
Varl opened the cell door for him and he tiptoed in until he was only a couple of feet away. From there he reached out to her and stroked her shoulder.
“Auraylia,” he whispered, on guard in case she tried to attack him again once she awoke. After calling her name three more times, each a little louder than before, she stirred and reacted to his presence.
In less than a second she gripped the hand he'd stroked her shoulder with and bent the fingers back as she shifted the rest of her body out of reach. He tried not to cry out in pain, in case it would alarm her further.
The lights brightened, making her blink and let go of him. When he glanced towards the door, he noticed the Thorian at the room's main console and nodded his thanks.
“Sorry,” he said as he turned back to Auraylia and noticed her shivering and panting for breath. He needed to get better at waking people without making them jump. “Can I sit? Here, on the end?”
He motioned to the end of the bunk and waited for her to give him some sign of at least acknowledging his words. When her head moved up and down he slowly perched on the edge.
“I wanted to come tell you I heard everything you said to Varl, and I believe it all. I wish you'd told me what the crew, Thomas and Ben in particular, did to you.” Her eyes went wide at his mention of the names. “The rest of the crew told me how they'd acted towards you, and it's more than enough for us to drop the charges against you, but I figure you don't want to go back to the dormitory you're assigned to sleep in.”
She shook her head, but her eyes remained wide and her breathing shallow and rapid.
“Is there somewhere you would like to sleep? Somewhere you would feel safer?” Dylan expected her to ask for his quarters or the Thorian's if she wanted to go anywhere, but for a few nights he didn't have any qualms about sleeping elsewhere or on the floor. He'd messed up and he owed the frightened girl some peaceful sleep that didn't come with any conditions or strings.
“The engine room. Where you found me before. Can I sleep in there? I like the hum the engine makes.”
“If you'd like. We can go there now. I'm sure Varl can fetch your bedding and we can make it more comfortable.”
“Now?”
He nodded and stood up. It took a little while for her to uncurl herself and get to her feet but he didn't mind waiting. The Thorian left them without needing any more prompting, and Dylan led her back to the engine room she'd requested.
He was thankful they didn't meet any crew along the way and they were soon at their destination. Dylan turned to the console near the door and tapped away until he'd set the room to only be unlockable and lockable by himself, her and the Thorian. As soon as he'd finished he explained it to her.